Chiba Ice Cream Sunday: 20121028

We look at the last week of preseason as the lights above the regular season start *clanking* on.

The Hornets preseason ended with a 1-2 week, bringing the preseason total to 4-4. It was an odd preseason for a number of reasons, as the team lost to the mid-pack teams of the bunch, but beat the very bad and the very good teams, including the Heat, even if they did not pump all their calories into the game.

It was also a preseason that had Eric Gordon in the wrong sort of limelight . . . the sickly green kind rather than star on a lighted stage. Smith and Rivers have been dealing with a pair of injuries each. Lopez is playing well-enough to at least stem the tide of jabs at him. The fact that no camp bodies are hanging around, now that Solomon Alabi and Chris Wright have been future endeavored, speaks positively about the roster relative to last year’s.

The New Orleans Hornets open this coming season, one of the 82-game variety, Wednesday night when the San Antonio Spurs come to town on Halloween. The Utah Jazz come to New Orleans Friday, then the Hornets visit the Chicago Bulls Saturday. All games are at 7 p.m. CDT (UTC -5) and are on Fox Sports New Orleans. Opening night is on NBATV, as well.

These are three tough games, with the Jazz one being the most winnable, even with injuries factored in. The best chance to win is with Eric Gordon playing, and if he can `go’, then the Hornets can end their first week above 0.500.

Opening night is going to be more than just a game. Prior to the game, fans can enjoy live music by Bag of Donuts at the Champions Square Pre-game Block Party starting at 5:00 p.m. The pre-game festivities will also include drink specials and a Halloween Costume Contest presented by WVUE Fox 8 with the top three place winners receiving a pair of courtside seats to Opening Night, as well as in-arena recognition during the game. The first-place winner will also receive an autographed team basketball.

Looking past just this week, many-a-site are doing so-called season previews. They are more like offseason reviews in some cases with a blurb saying that the team will be better than the worst team, or some pleasant variation. Here are some:

All previews lack guarantee since the future is not yet written, or at least is not yet accessible, but most of the uncertainty about the `tier’ on which this team will belong is tied to the playing time of Eric Gordon. We’ll know more about this Sunday, when he starts practicing with contact, in theory.

In celebration of this good news, treat yourself. Go into Chiba sometime this week and show this to the staff: “Jason said Keith will give me a free dessert.” Order at least an entree without using any other discount, and the table will get a free dessert.* Bingo-bango.

* That’s one dessert for the table, and you can’t use multiple discounts. The guy’s being cool. Be cool back. Also goes for October 1 through October 13. They are closed Sundays. So if that dessert looks good, go get it soon. Also, this is good for any dessert, including their bread pudding and their mochi.